The sunlight streaming in between the blinds earlier today was reddish in hue, an alien light, as though I lived on Mars, and although I missed the sunset today, I’ll wager anything that it was breathtakingly beautiful. Outside, particulates float in the air, covering the cars in a grungy film of ashy debris. That’s what happens when a wildfire rages uncontrollably not 60 miles away.

As I write this, over 200 homes have been swallowed by the flames—million-dollar homes at the very least.

When I saw the live footage of the fire, it looked like a scene out of the Lord of the Rings movies—epic destruction, great big mountainous plumes of orange-glowing smoke, lit as they were from below, a scene far too vast to fit in the camera’s view even from miles and miles and miles away. It doesn’t help that we have hot and dry Santa Ana weather right now, and it doesn’t help that the southwest-blowing winds from the desert direct the fire toward more of the homes, the embers flying so that even houses that are blocks and blocks away, amid untouched neighboring houses, fall in flames. Hell, the planes and helicopters fighting the fire have had to come down because the smoke became too much.

The officials suspect arson, and while I think they’re right, I cannot imagine how anyone would want to cause this hell-on-earth devastation. What sick and twisted mind likes to look at people weeping over the loss of all their possessions or frantically trying to save their homes and loved ones? A firefighter, after a long hard shift of fighting the wildfire, came home to find his own house had burned down.

How awful is that?

If there is a hell, like Dante’s hell, is that where arsonists should go to be punished? They obviously have a fascination for fire, for the flames that light and lick, the smoke that sears and suffocates. Maybe hellfire would only be a reward for them, as it would feed their fascination.

I can’t believe I’m wondering about this.

Update 2003.10.26 3:00pm: Hundreds of thousands of acres burning. Over 300 homes destroyed. Flights in LAX, John Wayne, Ontario, Lindbergh Field, etc. cancelled or delayed. Three-mile visibility. Fires in San Diego as well, near where I used to live even. Plane crash, too. More dry winds forecasted. Absolutely no rain forecasted. Power lines in danger, which might mean a loss of power for days. So far, a dozen people killed.

I am downwind of a lot of it and can smell the smoke even from my bathroom, and I am nowhere near it.

I hope they catch the arsonists, as this is a special kind of terrorism.

Update 2003.10.26 9:15pm: Over 600 homes now, and just because it’s night, it doesn’t mean the fire is going to sleep.

Sigh. With the recall election, the strikes, and the fires, California’s having a pretty bad year.

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